Fresh Basil Pesto

By myoung

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Special equipment needed: A food processor (Check Amazon.com's sales on Cuisinart food processors)

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from simplyrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

If you want to freeze the pesto you make, omit the cheese (it doesn't freeze well). Line an ice cube tray with plastic wrap, and fill each pocket with the pesto. Freeze and then remove from the ice tray and store in a freezer bag. When you want to use, defrost and add in grated Parmesan or Romano.

Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

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I dont know about canning, but I have been freezing a pesto base for years. I use about 5 cups of leaves, and enough olive oil to make it process well. I freeze this flat in freeser bags. Then when you want it, (in January!), just peel off the bag, break it up into a bowl and defrost, then you can add garlic, oregano, and enough cheese to turn the color pea green. I prefer

Romano too. Then I add a ladleful of the pasta water just before i serve. Taste before you add salt.

My part of Italy is not a pesto zone, so I am the only one in my neighborhood who makes it. And they all love it when I do! Last week's treasure was poached chicken breast, cut into large cubes and tossed with pesto while hot. Then it was chilled and eaten with chunks of ripe ripe tomatoes on the side.

I have a lovely 'lighter' recipe for pesto that adds about 1/2 cup of mine for every 1 cup basil and substitutes lemon juice and lemon zest for most of the oil and cheese. (Is this pitchfork territory, again?)

We love pesto. Instead of olive oil I use a cake of firm tofu and 2/3c. milk for the base. Makes up for the high calorie nuts, I guess!

I was wondering, is it possible to make pesto using almond meal instead of pine or walnuts?

I have successfully frozen pesto for years and prevent the top turning black by adding a thin film of olive oil to the container before I place it in the freezer (I think it prevents air discoloring the basil). Good to freeze in an iceblock tray, although it freezes soft and it is not difficult to break small amounts off a largish block for use. Happy eating!

This recipe brought it all back. The toasting of the pine nuts brings out all the wonderfull flavors in this pesto. This is a must make!

This is my first time in trying to make pesto. Always waited for my friend to make it. I found your receipe on the internet and tried it. It was so easy and great. The only thing I did different was that I didn't have any pine nuts only smoked almonds I used them and it was great. Looking forward to finding more receipes from you.

Hello, can you freeze basil leaves and not make pesto? Thanks. Juanita

I also make a pesto that I freeze, I learned this from my mother. We put lots of fresh basil into food processor, add about 3 bulbs of garlic (yes lots of garlic!), and while processing add very good quality olive oil until it makes a nice consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. This time I added too much olive oil so I went into my backyard picked our flat leaf Italian parsley and added that for extra flavour! Let mixture sit in bowl for an hour to cure. Then put pesto into small canning jars. Don't fill too much leave room to cover pesto with olive oil (this keeps air from getting to your prized basil.) Screw caps on clean jars tightly then freeze. When you need pesto take a jar out of freezer let dethaw and keep in fridge. After each time you use pesto out of fridge put a bit more oil on top to keep air off pesto again. Pesto will last a few weeks in your fridge. When done that jar get a new one out of freezer. Hope this idea helps someone.

I also noticed other pesto recipes hanging out in the recipe shop and thought I'd add my 2 cents. I've made variations of both cilantro and arugula pestos (I've also added the parsely before like Rhonda). All delicious!

Other pestos I've made: turnip greens and walnuts, mushroom with walnuts, sundried tomatoes with pine nuts/walnuts (particularly tasty over baked polenta), a mixture of arugala and watercress and pines ( I've used pecans before too).

Now I'm off (when I leave work) to make the traditional pesto and dress some of those chicken cubes for some some mini wraps....My mouth is watering already.

We add about 3 serrano chili's to our pesto just to give it a kick. We have also made pesto using cilantro ..same recipe you would use for the basil pesto and that is delicious mixed in a black bean soup or black bean paste served with lightly seasoned and grilled turkey. Yummm

The serranos in our garden are not very hot which is why we add so many but add per your taste. I don't roast mine before adding them to the basil. I drop them in while the basil leaves are being blended. We also use about double the garlic.

I never add salt to pesto because there's enough salt in the cheese. The pine nuts add much more flavour when toasted but heat a single layer gently in a frying pan until they are just golden.

Adding a little lemon juice will help to stop the pesto darkening when defrosted.

Set oven to 350 degrees. Place salmon fillets on a greased sheet of aluminum foil, in a pan or cookie sheet. Slather with pesto, and bake 20 minutes at 350 (or until fish just starts to flake).

I do not have a food processor, I have a hand chopper. Could I use this to make the pesto?

Well, here in Greece basil is... everywhere...and we also have "winter basil" plants which means that they have leaves during winter too... I simply love pesto. I add it almost everywhere. Just a spoonflull almost on top of evry salad, sandwich, grilled meat, even fish... I cannot get enough of it. And my questions are rwo:

2)I have tried everything and i cannot avoid discoloration. Even if you add oil on top, you have to keep on doing it everytime you scoop out some pesto from the jar. That means that with each addition the mixture turns more oily everytime. Plus, everytime you take some from the jar, even to use it as spread on a slice of warm whole weat bread, you put all that oil on it too. So any other ideas would be appreciated although i think there is no solution to this.

God bless you all, keep those mixers spinning!

I have been freezing my pesto for years in jars-no breakage, just remember to leave a little space at top for expansion. I also put a layer of plastic wrap directly on the top of the pesto before I put the lid on. Press the plastic wrap firmly down and smooth out with fingertips so that no air can get to the pesto. It's worked for me. I have also added the cheese and garlic before I freeze and it seems to taste pretty good that way, too. Thaw in refridgerator. I have kept it as long as two weeks in the fridge afterwards with no problems, but think one week is probably safer. Loretta

My question is about jaring in a presure cooker. Can this be done with basil? I would like to make basil and add it to my basket of jared goods that I give out.

Thanks for the recipe. First time making pesto. Sure beats the ready made stuff one buys from the store. I don't own a food processor so used a mortar and pestle instead. first ground the pine nuts with garlic, put aside, start grinding the leaves and adding the garlic/nuts mixture back. started adding olive oil when it gets too sticky, then the grated cheese. All the quantities are estimated but the end result was not bad. Licked the spoon clean. :)

Posted by: heather on July 6, 2008 7:01 PM

I was wondering if you could add a bit of baby spinach for some added nutritional value without throwing off the taste of traditional pesto? Any thoughts?

@Cristina-One of the restaurants I used to work at had us mix spinach, about half & half, with basil for their pesto. Don't really notice the spinach and it kind of softens the taste of the pesto a little. Was never sure if it was a taste thing of if they just did it to extend the basil, but it made nice pesto.

I used this recipe the first time I made pesto- it turned out pretty good! After a few tries I wanted it to be a little creamy, so I added a few drops of milk- and it helped a lot.

Last year I had an abundance of fresh herbs, including basil, oregano, parsley and thyme, and minced them all in the food processor with very good olive oil. I put the mixture into a lidded cup and froze it and used it all winter when I needed fresh herbs for a dish. I didn't add salt, as I used what I needed in the dish. It made for a great, fresh herbal taste all during the off-season!

Just a few comments on preserving pesto: I add a little lemon juice (about 1 tsp. per batch, which is a food processor-full of leaves) to preserve the nice green color. I do freeze a lot of it in ziplock bags but I don't add the cheese until I thaw it out to use it. Sometimes during the winter months I break off a piece of the frozen pesto to add to soups or sauces. I have only used parmesan reggiano, but will try the romano. I am glad to know about the toasting of the pine nuts and the freezing in jars. Will try those ideas too. Topping the pesto with oil is a good way to keep it in the fridge, but may not always result in ultra-long term storage. Basil fanatics: you can root cuttings about 1/3 way thru the season, then harvest the mature plants before they go to flower. Plant the cuttings and keep on growing!

I freeze pesto in ice cube trays, so I can pop out as many as I need. I cover the tray in plastic cling wrap and make sure the wrap is sitting right down on the pesto to help prevent colour change

The recipe above is a good base pesto recipe. But like some of you I like to dress it up. I always make a batch and add roasted red peppers to the blend. And then I always make a "hot" batch using a thai pepper or whatever I happen to be growing that year. Yummy. Thanks to all for sharing your variations.

Can you make this without cheese?

Thanks for the recipe! I've been trying out several recipes for my birthday dinner, and these are one of the few I'm picking. And it's with the addition of mint and/or flat leaf parsley!

My boyfriend and I just made this pesto tonight to eat with tortellini - it was incredibly delicious! We will definitely make it again! :)

I have never made pesto before and I didn't have any of the regular ingredients. I used the tiny bit of basil I had with a ton of spinach, walnuts & feta cheese w/olive oil. It was sooo cream and rich! I added roasted garlic instead of raw and it gave the pesto a smoother taste.

People will hurf and blurf forever about the "correct" way to make pesto but in all honesty that's like saying there's a "correct" way to make salsa or marinara. Basil is the key, defining ingredient but everything else is supportive and thus can be substituted for similar things based on taste, availability, and cost.

The oil can also be done to taste or budget. The olive flavor from extra virgin olive oil may be indispensable to some, others may prefer light olive oil for a milder flavor. The oil here is providing fat to bind everything together, keep it fresh, and add fat to round out the flavor and make it a sauce instead of a salad.

The parmesan is in a gray area. It is second only to the basil in the amount of the flavor profile that it contributes to, so some will find it indispensable (I am one of them). However, any finely grated hard cheese will serve the purpose of thickening the oil and binding it to the other dry ingredients. Some softer ones might even work, I haven't tried. One thing, though: in the classic recipe, the parmesan provides most or all of the salt going into the sauce. If you substitute it you'll probably have to add some salt to taste. If you drop the cheese entirely you'll definitely need to add some salt or it will taste bland.

Pesto was most likely invented as a way to make a cheap, tasty sauce when one had extra basil, using ingredients that were readily available and cheap to be had. Sticking religiously to the classic recipe is not only expensive but contradictory to the original nature of pesto. If you don't mind using a cheaper nut, oil, or cheese, for god's sake don't waste your money. If you prefer a different flavor, same deal. It's just a sauce, it isn't like you're baking a soufflé that'll fall flat if you do one thing wrong.

I made this recipe for the first time and it was gone within a week. I use walnuts because they are cheaper than pine nuts and I can make more pesto! The first time I made it we just stirred it into hot pasta and it was delicious. Then we were using it in everything. My son in law added it to his pumpkin soup with cheese and ricotta ravioli - perfection! Thank you so much.

We make or own pesto and love it. We also make a pizza with it. We get a pre packaged crust that most stores have hanging on the shelf. Coat the crust with pesto. Cube a chicken breast in about 3/8 inch cubes and brown them in a little olive oil. Put chicken on top of pesto add cheese and bake until cheese is melted. It is hard to eat any other type of pizza after eating one of these.

The recipe is pretty basic and forgiving. I don't see any of the post discussing adding a little freshly squeezed lemon juice but we do it that way in our home and the kids suck it down....

I grow and make basil all the time. My friends and family can't get enough. I would like to give our jars to others, but don't like that it gets that black layer in the jar. At home I can just scoop out that covering before I use, but would not like to give it to others that way. I use some lemon juice and even place a bit of plastic wrap under the lid. Do you think I am using the wrong kind of jars or is there another trick? Please help I would like to try this for the holidays.

You might put the plastic wrap directly on the pesto so that there is no air touching it. BTW pesto should be refrigerated and eaten up within a week. As directed, these are not canning instructions. If you are thinking of making some to give as gifts for the holidays, you can freeze pesto, but do not freeze with the Parmesan mixed in. ~Elise

Storing pesto - the first time I ever had home made pesto, it came from my stepdaughter at Christmas time, frozen in a Seal-a-Meal bag. It was so incredibly awesome that the next summer, I grew my own basil, bought a Seal-a-Meal machine, made pesto and froze it. It was wonderful. The Seal-a-Meal is a machine that vacuum seals the plastic bags you put the pesto in, and it never turns brown. You can buy the bags or just the material the bags are made of to make custom size bags. There are different brands of this machine, probably all equally as good. I don't buy the brand name bags, which can be expensive - I buy no-name bags at By-Mart or Costco. I use the machine for all kinds of food storage, but it was worth the purchase just to be able to have wonderfully fresh, not-brown, pesto at any time of year! I also make my pesto with the parmesan-reggiano cheese and freeze it with the cheese and garlic in it, it comes out fine and delicious! I'm off to harvest my basil and make a bunch of different-sized bags of pesto to freeze now for the winter, and of course some will not end up frozen but enjoyed now.

My mother made the same traditional recipe and I still make lots of it every summer and freeze it for the winter. We love it with fish, pasta, and on cheese & tomato sandwiches.

I am new to the pesto world, I have bushels of basil. I have always wanted to make pesto, however beacuse of the size of our garden I do not have extra freezer space and would like to can it. What is the process for that? Is it as good? Any advice would be very much appreciated! Thank you inadvance!

I personally found that 3 cloves of garlic was a tad over powering for the ingredient ratio, I had some more basil growing outside and simply added a little more basil, a little more oil and a few roasted pine nuts to solve the problem, and must say, it worked out wonderfully. To make it a little more health conscious I use partial soy milk (or real milk if that's what you drink) to give it a creamier taste.

This recipe made our day( dinner). Fresh basil and garlic from the garden. Went perfect with shrimp, whole wheat pasta and tomatoes(also from the garden).

When I got a bag of basil in my CSA this week, I knew I had to make pesto. This recipe was divine and easy for a first-time pesto maker. I added a fourth clove of garlic because I love the stuff but hardly needed a grain of salt. I will definitely make this again.

I freeze mine complete with the cheese in it and haven't had any trouble. My recipe's about identical to yours and I'm getting ready to make a big batch this week! :) I like to freeze it flattened out in freezer bags. When I want some, I just break off a piece of the sheet.

You can prevent browning in the fridge or freezer by shocking your basil before making the pesto. This means that you submerge the basil in boiling water with salt and baking soda for a few seconds then put it immediately in an ice bath. This doesn't change the flavor just keeps it green.

Pesto freezes very well without the pine nuts - I add them toasted later when I thaw. My preference is to freeze them in ice cube trays and then remove the cubes and put them in a ziplock. We enjoy pesto all year round!

Sounds great! I'm planning to make this tonight, but I don't have a food processsor. Can't I just use a blender? Any advice would help, thanks.

You can try with a blender, but I don't know how well it will work. You can also use a mortar and pestle to make pesto. Or just chop everything very finely with a chef's knife. ~Elise

I wonder if using cupcake papers would be a workable freezing substitute for an ice cube tray? I live with 3 guys and can't imagine that icy pesto cubes would go over well in the freezer. (Though we're lucky enough to have an auto-ice maker - maybe they wouldn't notice!)

We make pesto every year. Sometimes we make it with lemon or thai basil, and even with garlic scapes. We spoon the finished product, cheese and all, into snack sized baggies. Then we stack those in a bigger baggie and freeze flat. Break off a bit and thaw for 30 seconds or so on low power in the nuker. It tastes great all winter long. We use it to marinade salmon, have it on asparagus, or pizza or crakcers ; )

Can you add the flowers and seeds on the top of the plant? I've cooked with them and still get a pure basil flavor.

Basil doesn't like to be refrigerated, the best way to store it is to 1) do not rinse it, 2) place it in a jar with water, so that the bottom stems are immersed in water (like flowers in a vase), 3) put a thin plastic bag loosely over the top so that the basil doesn't dry out, and 4) store it on a kitchen counter top. As for making pesto, I suggest discarding the damaged parts and making pesto with any leave parts that are still good. ~Elise

RE: the pasta amount question above--you can make the amount of pasta you would make for two people, and then add the pesto bit by bit, stirring until it is the amount you prefer. Everyone is different on this.

I was wondering if using half olive and half grapeseed oil would help mellow the taste of the extra virgin olive oil that some people find a bit overwhelming, especially here in the midwest. Since folks are adding mint, I am going to try using regular basil with some spicy basil. Having been in the eastern orthodox church for 25 years now, pine nuts are a staple for our diet, especially with the advent fast coming up. I might even try to substitute walnut oil and no cheese served over spaghetti squash with a garnish of roasted pine nuts and garlic and just a sprig or two of parsley. Thanks for sharing. Nike

My husband is prohibited from having cheese and nuts due to stage 4 chronic kidney disease. But he loves pesto. Can we still make it without losing the flavour? Would appreciate any help.

Just made this and it's absolutely yummy.... Going to add it to some pasta for dinner a little later this eve.

I've been making a sauce for a tri tip recipe that I consider a pesto. We use it to dip bread in ,spoon on slices of tri tip, or mix with pasta: fresh oregano/majoram, garlic, olive oil, salt, lemon juice in a food processor.really good! might want a dose of mouthwash later for garlic breath. :)

Yum yum! Affordable and delicious! Walnuts make a great substitute for expensive pignolias.

I did not have pine nuts in the house, so I used salted pistachios. It turned out so good (and I did not to add any extra salt.)

We added some feta to the recipe and no salt. It made it really smooth and creamy, and the feta added just the right amount of saltiness on its own. With sweet basil that we're growing, it turned out really well.

If anybody is looking for a way to use their basil without having to make pesto, try this. I have picked my basil (and parsley), rinsed it well, dried it well, placed in ziploc bags, squeezed out air and placed in freezer. I have it to use all winter. When I need some I just reach in the bag and take what I want. Works well.

Made a double batch without the cheese and froze in small plastic containers (added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice). Used toasted walnuts. Smelled delish!!. I'll add the freshly grated parmesand or romano cheese when I use it during the winter months. Or I may try

adding some feta or manchego as suggested by others. I also like to ideal of using the pesto for other dishes besides pasta. It's amazing how creative you can get when you think outside the bun. I know I'll be glad I made and froze the pesto when those cold winter winds blow in after Christmas. I made a batch a few months ago with the cheese in it and froze. I'm anxious to see if the cheese gummed up the pesto or not from being frozen. Either way it'll be better than the stuff they sell in the grocery store

There were a few questions and comments about pesto darkening or turning black. This is oxidation occuring, similar to an apple turning brown. This is best prevented by adding a little lemon or orange juice and making sure it is well mixed in. Guten Appetit!!

I added peanuts instead and the turn out was fabulous, I find walnuts a bit bitter, you can all try with peanuts I def recommend it.

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